“The Social Care Future vision gives direction to council’s strategies for change and ADASS is using the vision to build a roadmap to the future. It’s great to have the space this Community offers for collective support to help move from vision to reality. The balance of peer support & connection to positive innovation, ideas and action is just what is needed Stephen Chandler (Past President ADASS)”
Our community of support, set up at the request of Directors of Adult Social Services two years ago offers peer and themed support to help close the gap between where we are now and the social care we want. We aimed to build a flexible space which combined:
- Opportunities for peer support – where people could come and problem solve and opportunity search practical common issues – without judgment but with support to focus
- Sharing “glimpses of the future” and practical resources and methods from around the country
- Themed sessions supporting people to create the conditions and take steps forward, connecting coproduction to changing practice and strategy and adapting language and the story of social care we tell to underpin culture change and investment
- Support to people who draw on social care to be powerful coproducers with their councils
- Opportunities to link to and influence the external forces shaping what we do – for example debating assurance issues with the Care Quality Commission Chief Inspector, helping shape national commissioner training, identifying the “Plumbing and Wiring” issues inhibiting change to be negotiated with those responsible for them
You can see more in this outline of the 2024/5 programme
Time to Act – The 2024/5 Community
We are currently designing the 2024/5 programme to start in late May. We were encouraged that the detailed national roadmap for adult social care Time to Act adass-time-to-act-april-2023.pdf uses the Social Care Future Vision as it’s North Star. It was great to have the ADASS president setting out the ambition at our October gathering.
We were also delighted to have helped develop the national Time to Act Reform Group, now bringing together national social care leadership bodies with people who draw on support to focus “sector” efforts and jointly influence government.
At local level councils have the task of using Time to Act to focus their efforts and our 2024/5 programme will offer help with this. We will be going deeper into some of the key areas for early and important action from the Roadmap:
In addition to core sessions to problem solve, share and connect across the Time to Act action areas, focussed theme topics will be:
- Sharing power through coproduction and self-directed support
- Person-centred practice – including transforming assessment and support planning to shift power and enable creative use of resources
- Early action and asset-based commissioning – including community touchpoints and local area coordination
- Developing better support approaches – with a focus on support to live good lives at home and growing a better wider range of support options at all ages
- People power – focussed sessions for people who draw on social care to be effective partners
- Plus: An online resource of materials relevant to community activity and themes and use of Basecamp to connect and share
Sessions will include input from people able to share great approaches and examples. Council members can opt in to as many theme areas as they wish and spread attendance across staff and citizens. If your council is interested get in touch via socialcarefuture@gmail.com
